Note 89 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

“By the Flatheads,” says Bancroft, “captives are generally killed by their sufferings.” McLean, speaking of their wars, remarks: “When one party lost more than the other, compensation was made in slaves or some other kind of property”89. This statement does not, however, prove that slavery existed among them; these “slaves” might be members of the tribe, delivered up either to be killed or adopted. So we are left in doubt as to the existence of slavery90.